Self-clearing propeller



T. SVENSON. SELF CLEARING PROPELLER. APPLICATION FILED DECAL 1920. 0 397 PatentedSept. 13, 1921.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

g5 5 0 v QB gs OQAXW T013155 Evens 11 T. SVENSON.-

SELF CLEARING PROPE LLER. 7 APPLICATION FILED nc.6, 1920.

1,390,397. PabentedSept. 13,1921.

2 SHEER-SHEET 2.

in/Q0 Tuhiaa Evans 1311 UNITED sTATEs PATENT caries.

'ronrAs svnnson, or MILWAUKEE, wIsooNsI Nl SELF-CLEARING PRorEnLER;

To all whom it may concern: l 3e 1t known that I, TOBIAS SVENSON, a citlzen of the United States, and resident of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in 'Self Clearing Propellers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof. -r

' My invention relates to means adapted to be applied upon the submerged portion of a motor which-'is'u'sed as the propelling means for a boat ofany desired structure, and it is particularly adapted for ?use upon motors of the ortable type. V

H ere'tofor'e, in weedy water, particularly marshes, where bulrushes, sea-weeds or other floating or suspended vegetation is found, it has been impossible to successfully navigate boats driven by rotary propellers, due to the fact that the undergrowth winds upon the propeller or'shaft, which invariably causes the propeller or shaft 'to break, or it may cause the engine to stop.

Therefore, the main object or purpose of myinve'ntion is to provide means which may be applied to a motor of the character set forth which will cut from the propeller or its shaft any vegetation that fmay become gatheredthereupon. v i

" A further object of my invention isto prostructure, or its equivalent; secured upon theexterior of the tubular sleeve F, and by *one ofthe sleeve securingscrews E, is a vide a cutting element actuated by the rotation of the propeller shaft and coactlng with .certain stationary means which "will sever any material retained by the propeller or its shaft. I I

Y It'is also an object of my invention to pro. vide means that willassist in bringing the vegetation which may gather upon the shaft in such a position that it will be out therefrom by the' cutting element.

A further object of my invention is to provide means betweenthe casing of the propel- I l'er driving shaft and the propeller that will cooperate with the edges ofthe latter for the purpose of cutting therefrom any vegetation that may be gathered thereby as'it I travels toward the propeller shaft. From theobjects set forth, itwill be apparent that as the propeller revolvesany vegetation gathered-thereupon, or its shaft, will be cut as it is brought in-contact with the'cutting elements, thereby preventing it Specification of Letters Patent, Patentfl 89191 .13, 1921 Application filed December 6, 1920. Serial No. 428,517.

from winding about the shaft to such a degree that'damage will be caused. I

In the accompanying drawings l Figure '1 is a side elevation of a propeller and its operating means with my invention applied thereto, same being shown partly in section. I

Fig.2is a rear view of the same: I Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3;3fof Fig.1.'.

Fig. 4:, a'front view of the means applied between the casing and the propeller, and

Fig. 5 is a detail view of the cutting element; 1

Referring tothe drawings in detail, the

letter A designates the .rot'ary'prop'eller of the motor,"same being secured 'toand rotated by the horizontal shaft B,"-the latter being in gear connectioniwiththevertical shaft C, the upper end of which is connected with the motor and rotated thereby. The shafts B and C aresuitably housed, in a casing, the

lowerpart of which has'made integral there- 1 'with the rudder D, while the upper part has secured the-reto'bythe screws'E, thetu'bular sleeve F in 'Whichthe upperpart of'the shaft C is housed. The structure herein de-' scribed is common in that type of motor 'previously referred to, and therefore, Ido not limit myself to this structure. .1 r My inventioncomprises the following plate l the body of which is curved, while one end portion is bent at substantially right angles to the plate, as indicated at 2, said bent portion lying in a-vertical plane extending through the center of the shaft C. The lower "end portion .ofthe member 2 extends downward and is adapted to rest upon the casing, as shown ,in Figs. 1 and 2, and has made integral therewith the shearing .blockfl, one side of which is inclined ,while the otheris vertical and the latter-being hereinafter. 1'

. ery-of which reststhe operating element of the cutter.

-adapted-to cooperate with a movable cutting element, which will be described-more fully The casing of the driving elements for the propeller A has fitted therein, above the cam a, a tubular sleeve 5, same being held to the casing by the screw 6. Movable within the sleeve 5 and operated by the cam his a piston or plunger 7 the upper end ofwhich has made integral therewith the ring .8, same being adapted to slide up and down on the sleeve F as the plunger 7 is moved.

The ring 8 has secured theretodiametrically opposite the plunger 7 the vertical extending plate 9, the lower end of which is provided with an outwardly extending portion, the upper edge of which is sharpened, as indicated at 10. The plate 9 has provided therein the elongated slot 11, through which passes the bolts12, same being adapted to hold the cutter in place between the plates 2 and 13, and also act as a guide therefor.

As shown in Fig. 5, I have provided the edge of the cutting plate 9, that adjacent the sleeve F and opposite to the cutting edge, with a small curved portion 16 same extending the full length of the plate, the purpose of'which is to guide the cutter properly in its operation and to assist in holding the plate 1 in its proper position.

As I have shown in the drawings, the shearing block 3 extends longitudinally of the casing to such a position that its edge lies beyond the edge ef the casing, as shown in Fig. 1. Mounted upon the bearing of the shaft B which is provided with a plurality of fingers 15 the upper edgeof which are slightly curved. These fingers are adapted to lie in a plane parallel to that of the plate proper and are connected therewith by the web 17, the latter being so arranged that the fingers will be free to move between the block 3 and the propeller blades. In applying the plate in its proper position, one of the'fingers is so positioned with respect to-the block 3 that as the propeller revolves any vegetation caught thereby will be carried up over the block, so as to lie in a position to be severed as the cutter moves upward. Furthermore,

the fingers 15 serve as a cutting or shearing element in conjunction with the edges of the propeller blades as the latter revolves, and any material caught thereby will be cut, or a portion thereof, before it reaches the propeller shaft.

As will be apparent from the foregoing description, the operation of the attachment is as follows: as the, shaft B rotates the movable cutting element 9 will be moved upward and any material upon.the block 3 will be cut by the sharpened edge 10 thereof; It will be understood that the plate is moved up and down by the plunger 7 which is in contact with the cam 13011 the shaft B. Then as the propeller revolves any vegetation caught thereby will be out either between the fingers 15 and the edges of the prois a circular plate 1.4 the edge of this means, it will then be cut by the reciprocating cutter.

' F rpm the foregoing, it is thought that the "construction, operation and many advantages of the herein described invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, without further. description, and it will be understood that various changes in the size, shape, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

Having thus fully described y invention, what I claim as new, and desire to securelby Letters Patent, is

1. In a device of the character described,'-= the combination of a propeller and itsshaft,

movable means operated by the latter, and statlonary means coacting with said movable means and the propeller for severing material.

2. In a device of-the character described, a propeller and a shaft for operating'same, a reciprocating cutter operated by the latter and a stationary cutter coacting with the former for severing material.

3. In a device 'ofthecharacterdescribed, a reciprocating cutter operated by'a cam secured to a rotary element and a stationary cutter coacting with the blades of a propeller tr cut material.

4. Ina device of the character peller shaft extending rearward therefrom and a-propeller thereon, a reciprocating cutter operated by said shaft, and'a second cut ter positioned between the casing and the propeller and adapted to coact with the lat ter and both cutters operating to sever material gathered by the propeller or its shaft.

5. In adevic'e of the character described,

the combination of a closed casing, a propeller shaftextending rearward therefrom and a propeller mounted thereon, a stationary cutting elementon the casing, a movable cutting element operated by the shaft and coactingwith. the stationary element, a second stationary member positioned between the casing and the propeller and both cutters operating to sever material gatheredv by the propeller orits shaft. i

6. In a device of the character described, the combination of a closed casing having therein a vertical shaft and a horizontal shaft, a propeller on one end thereof and a camadjacent the other" end,a cutting element secured to the casing and coacting with 'a second cutting element movable thereon and operated by said cam, a plate positioned between the casing and the propeller and peller and adapted to carry gathered mahaving fingers adapted to coact with the staterial over said shearing block and to cut tionary cutting element and to sever mamaterial caught between it and the propeller terial caught between them and the edges blades.

5 of the propeller blades. In testimony that I claim the foregoing I 15 7 In a device of the character described, have hereunto set my hand at Milwaukee, in a the combination of a casing and a propeller, the county of Milwaukee and State of a shearing block secured to said casing, a Wisconsin. movable cutter coacting therewith, means 10 positioned between the casing and the pro- TOBIAS SVENSON. 

